MINUTES OF THE INFORMAL MEETING OF THE JOHNSON COUNTY BOARD OF SUPERVISORS:
APRIL 16, 2008
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
Board of Supervisors: Update On Johnson County Strategic Plan........................................ 1
Discussion From the Public.................................................................................................. 7
Chairperson Sullivan called the Johnson County Board of Supervisors to order in the Johnson County Administration Building at 9:02 a.m. Members present were: Pat Harney, Larry Meyers, Terrence Neuzil, Sally Stutsman, and Rod Sullivan.
Executive Assistant Mike Sullivan said that page seven of the Goal Setting Report from the Municipal Management Institute (MMI) presents the priorities, projects, programs, policies, and initiatives selected by the Board for the upcoming 12-24 month period of time listed in order of priority. He noted that this was a fluid document that could be changed at any time as priorities change. M. Sullivan said that the top two priorities are a new justice facility to include jail alternatives, and the development of a Metropolitan Transportation Plan. M. Sullivan said that the third priority is the development of a Multi-Year Strategic Plan for the County to address the challenges of providing County services for the increasing population.
M. Sullivan said the action plan would follow the recommendations of the MMI and set out how the Board wanted to achieve the goals. He said that the Board would need to include the objectives and progress measurements. M. Sullivan said the Board already ranked the top four projects and noted that after more work is done the Board would present these priorities to the public. Neuzil said that at the January 2008 Strategic Planning meeting the Board had identified five priorities. He said they added the Green Initiatives and Rural Economic Development. Neuzil said the priorities are the Justice Center, Green Initiatives, Rural Economic Development, Metro Transportation Plan, and developing a Multi-Year Strategy.
Board consensus was to create groups to work on each project. The Justice Center was assigned to Harney and Neuzil. Meyers and Neuzil would work on the Green Initiatives. The Metropolitan Transportation Plan was assigned to Harney and Meyers. R. Sullivan said that Johnson County Council of Governments (JCCOG) was working on the Metropolitan Transportation Plan. R. Sullivan said that Stutsman was already on the JCCOG Committee and should be part of the project. R. Sullivan asked what the expectations for each group assignment were. Neuzil said that the group should come up with an action plan. R. Sullivan added that each group would present the plans to the Board for review.
Harney said that the previous attempt to create a Transportation Plan failed. M. Sullivan said that at that time competition for funding was intense between the different transit agencies. R. Sullivan said the problem with previous attempts was that the policy makers wanted people to come up with new ideas but would not make any changes. Neuzil said that in 2002 the Board funded four major initiatives: the Justice Center, space issues, technology, and trails. Neuzil said that those projects got done, and hoped that this time there would be a more organized approach to the list. M. Sullivan said he would help make the plans be as concise as possible. Stutsman said looking at 2002 they did make incredible progress on all the issues. M. Sullivan said the key issues meetings kept them focused since 2002. M. Sullivan said that the Board knew they would be talking about the issues and therefore were prepared to talk about them. M. Sullivan said that the proposed rail system from Cedar Rapids to Iowa City should be included in the Metropolitan Area Transportation Plan.
Harney said that Neuzil and Harney would work on the Justice Center project, the Transportation Plan was assigned to Harney and Meyers, and Stutsman and R. Sullivan would work on Rural and Economic Development. The Green Initiatives and Environment project was assigned to Neuzil and Meyers, and Development for Multi-Year Strategic Plan was given to R. Sullivan, M. Sullivan, and Budget Coordinator Rich Claiborne. Neuzil said the hiring of a Justice Coordinator was included in the Justice Center project. R. Sullivan said they should have Stutsman and Meyers on the Transit Plan assignment because Harney would work on the Justice Center and the Criminal Justice Coordinator issue. Stutsman said that hiring the Criminal Justice Coordinator should be an action plan. M. Sullivan said that when doing a multi-year strategic plan they would need to talk about human capital and Human Resources Administrator Lora Shramek would be a good addition to the group. Harney and Stutsman agreed.
Neuzil asked what the next step was. Harney said they need to start working on roads and how to proceed with that. Neuzil said that the question of what the fundamental roles of the government is started to resonate from the April 11, 2008 meeting. Neuzil said that for Johnson County one role has to do with the growth. M. Sullivan asked what the plan for the roads was. Harney said he was talking about the upkeep and maintenance of roads as the Federal Government suggested taking the tax away. M. Sullivan said that if the Board creates detailed plans it would be easier to come up with an action plan. Stutsman said the Board is at a point where they need to make some decisions and put together an action plan. M. Sullivan said that it is ideal if the Board would create an action plan and at every monthly meeting they would have some discussions about that. M. Sullivan said the first thing is to get the Durrant study done, and then the Board should make a decision based on the Durrant recommendations.
Stutsman asked if Rural Economic Development meant roads. Harney said that it is encouraging commercial development to encourage growth. Neuzil added that it also means promoting Amish communities. M. Sullivan said the entire Board needs to define Rural Economic Development and not just the two Supervisors assigned to the group. R. Sullivan said that the Board should determine an action plan the groups could report back to the Board members and the situation could be reassessed. M. Sullivan said the Board already prioritized the projects and needs to define expenses and financing options. R. Sullivan said it is important that the Board is flexible and doesn't define plans to the extent that they would constrain future actions. M. Sullivan agreed and said that things could change, get moved around, or the Board could run into some roadblocks and therefore it needs flexibility in actions.
Neuzil asked for clarification on the road issues. Stutsman said that is an infrastructure item. Meyers thought it is a separate issue. M. Sullivan agreed. Neuzil said the Board needs to get back on track with the Capital Improvements Plan. Neuzil said that one of the big issues for next year would be deciding how much the rural budget should be because the cost of road constructions would increase 15% to 20%. M. Sullivan said the winter has been very hard for road maintenance. He noted that the gravel roads were in good shape before the winter season started, but currently they are in very bad shape.
Stutsman said that Rural Economic Development does not only refer to commercial and businesses but also to housing developments. She added that if the Board wants to increase road spending they should also promote housing development to help pay for roads. R. Sullivan said he does not think housing is part of Rural Economic Development. Harney said that a few years ago the Board wanted to make a place for business, industrial, or trash-haulers but never followed up on that. Neuzil said that a lot of things tie into each other and it all comes back to quality of life and the County mission statement. Neuzil said one of the issues that continues to plague the Board is the unclear definition of a road. He noted the road issue is not just about money but also about determining the appropriate type of roads to be constructed. R. Sullivan said that Planning and Zoning Administrator Rick Dvorak and Assistant Planning and Zoning Administrator R.J. Moore suggested the Board put money aside so that in the future they can build the types of roads they want to build, and not just the types of roads they can afford. R. Sullivan said that things come up suddenly and need to be dealt with and that is part of the difficulty with strategic planning. He said the Board is trying to tackle issues that keep coming up. M. Sullivan said that once the objectives are set the Board could hold work sessions and public input.
Harney said that the roads are not all alike and the Board needs to design a solid road that would not fall apart while meeting the residents’ standards. Harney said the Board should come up with a plan to pay for the roads since the Federal Government is talking about cutting funds. Neuzil asked who would be on the Roads Committee. He thought that Stutsman, Harney, and one additional Supervisor should form the Committee to have representation of all split arguments in the Board. Stutsman said the Board could tell an engineer what they want to achieve but said she is unsure how strict the system is regarding who sets the policy, the Board or the County Engineer. Harney said that the Board needs to decide what they want to achieve and then have an engineer create a design to fit the need. Neuzil said the slope and safety are the main considerations in road design. R. Sullivan said that only an urban road would work for West Branch Road in Iowa City and noted that the Board might also need to transform Sandy Beach Road into an urban road to fit the needs. Stutsman said that it all depends on the money available. She said that the Board would spend all the money upgrading Sandy Beach Road into an urban road and forget about other things.
Neuzil said he feels the Board is micromanaging too much. Stutsman said she thought it would be easier to focus strictly on policy if they had a County Manager. Harney said the Board has been reactive instead of proactive. R. Sullivan said the Board does not do a good enough job in evaluating department heads. He said that the Board is not really pushing department heads to do anything great and there are no incentives to try anything new. Neuzil said the problem is that the Board has no training. Stutsman and R. Sullivan agreed. M. Sullivan said the Board created a Human Resources Department that did not exist in the past. Stutsman said that no evaluations were performed prior to the creation of Human Resources.
R. Sullivan said the Board started doing strategic planning partly because of the evaluations. M. Sullivan and Stutsman agreed. R. Sullivan said that Secondary Roads infrastructure needs were part of the County Engineer function. R. Sullivan added that the Board should express what they want to achieve and the County Engineer would need to figure out how to do it. Harney said that the Board has criticized some department heads for not doing enough. He noted that it worked because some of them returned with ideas and upgrades proposals. Harney noted that the Board needs to give department heads more direction. Neuzil said that evaluations are mainly about future goals. Stutsman said that she has been talking for a long time about redoing the evaluation process, and said that a good transition would be to have Shramek work with the Board in doing evaluations.
Neuzil asked what the Board's role is, as elected policymakers, in regards to overseeing a department head. M. Sullivan said the role is whatever the Board wants it to be. Stutsman said that maybe the Board needs to work only on policies and evaluations. Neuzil said the evaluations could be a collaborative effort between the Board, Shramek, and M. Sullivan. Stutsman said the evaluations should tie into Strategic Planning goals. Neuzil said that the money side of things is Claiborne’s area of expertise, and employee/Human Resources is Shramek's area of expertise.
R. Sullivan said the Board needs to be careful regarding what they are asking for so they do not end up like Iowa City Councilors who declare themselves powerless because it is up to the City Manager to transfer the message of what should be done to departments. R. Sullivan said the City Council gets beat up for not doing anything, but the Councilors will say they can't do anything because it's up to the City Manager to direct the department heads. Meyers said it's a difficult situation because all the responsibility is being passed off to the City Manger. Harney said the City Manager is a coordinator for all activity. R. Sullivan said that some people think the idea of a manager is great and other people think it is a bad idea. Neuzil said they do not need a County Manager. M. Sullivan said that in the November 2007 Strategic Planning meeting the Board determined that having a County Manager was not a priority. Stutsman agreed, and said the only time the community agrees that a County Manager is needed is when residents feel the Board members are not doing their job. R. Sullivan said if the Board does a good job with the Strategic Plan and determining goals some of the community skepticism will be eliminated.
Neuzil said he would like the Board to refocus on the definition of the Supervisor position. He said being on the Board is like applying for a job and noted that the first thing done when one applies for a job is to look at the job description. He said the Board needs to figure out what they are supposed to be doing. M. Sullivan said it's a unique job because Supervisors are elected officials. M. Sullivan said that Supervisors are elected based on their constituencies, practices, and philosophies and because of that the job description for each Supervisor is a little bit different. M. Sullivan said the Board might get farther along in their goals if all five Supervisors are on the same page. Neuzil said the Board's role is to examine policies, goals, and evaluations and get department heads to follow through on the goals assigned to them. Stutsman said Board members have roles as liaisons to monitor department head progress. M. Sullivan agreed.
Neuzil asked if the Board should focus more on the liaison meetings. M. Sullivan thought it was important for Supervisors to meet with department heads even if it is just to get an overview of what has been done in the past year. Stutsman agreed. Stutsman defined her role as a Supervisor as to what the community wants her to do regardless of the salary. She thought the community wants her to be hands-on and involved in the operations of departments. Stutsman said the interpretation of the Supervisor job description is a personal thing. Neuzil asked what the Board's role is in performance evaluations. M. Sullivan said training will help the Board members ask the right questions and get the right information.
R. Sullivan said Johnson County is the fourth most populated county in Iowa and noted that he is disappointed if the Board is not the second or third best in Iowa in everything they do. R. Sullivan thought this should be the Board's goal. He said that the Board should ask all the department heads about best practices; what the best possible department in the specific area is doing, and how could the County get there. R. Sullivan said everyone has that goal or expectation but the Board does not verbalize it very well to department heads.
R. Sullivan asked who County Engineer Greg Parker's liaisons are. Stutsman said she and Neuzil are the liaisons. Meyers said he does not have a problem working on the Secondary Roads infrastructure. Harney said he would work with Meyers on the issue. Neuzil said that the discussion about infrastructure should include budgeting along with deciding on what type of road to build. He asked if the 15% to 20% increase in construction costs would mean that the Board would build less roads. Stutsman said the Board would do more priorities managing. Stutsman understood why it's good to be the best in the State but cautioned the Board that it costs money to be the best. R. Sullivan agreed.
Stutsman asked if the Board was ready to keep raising taxes to be able to say they have LEED buildings. M. Sullivan said the Board has the capabilities to determine how much it costs to move a department up in the State rankings. R. Sullivan said that the County is in many ways far ahead of other counties. Harney said the Geographic Information System (GIS) Department is one of the best in the State. Neuzil reiterated that it is expensive to be the best. He remembered how much the former Board was criticized, especially by the County Attorney, for spending money on GIS technology. Neuzil noted that the former Board made GIS a priority and the department has continued to improve since then.
M. Sullivan said each group could get together and work on the definition and scope of the item they have been assigned and report back at the following meeting. R. Sullivan said the other three Supervisors could add or subtract comments when they reconvened. Stutsman said the other members could also disagree. Neuzil thought it would be helpful if they had some questions to work with. M. Sullivan said he would compile questions for the Board members to analyze in the group discussions. Stutsman asked if each group needs to have the definition, scope, and action plan ready by next month's Board meeting. M. Sullivan said that was too much for each pair. He noted that the scope needs to be determined before the action plan can be made. Neuzil said the Board needs to think how to get department heads and other elected officials on board. M. Sullivan didn't think the Board would have trouble with either group.
R. Sullivan said the groups would have 30 days to define the scope for their assigned item. Neuzil would attend the National Association of Counties (NACo) meeting in July and wanted to see if the busy July schedule would allow them to meet. M. Sullivan said July is always a hard month for Board members because there is so much going on. He said the only thing planned for June was an ISAC legislative workshop. Stutsman said the ISAC workshop is in Coralville and it will be a huge insult if the Board doesn't go. M. Sullivan said the Johnson County Fair is the week before the workshop. Harney said he will be out of state in June for the ISAC workshop.
M. Sullivan said he will place the items on an action plan and lay out the group roles for the next 30 days. He said his action plan will detail how to define scope and who is responsible for what. M. Sullivan said when the Board meets at next month's Strategic Planning meeting they will start working on developing the action plan. M. Sullivan said that it is pretty amazing that the Board achieved so many things in the past six years without any formal plans. M. Sullivan said utilizing action plans is a better use of time and the meetings would be more efficient. Neuzil said that as the Board starts to attend more ISAC and NACo events and become better managers, they would get more policy driven ideas from seeing what other communities are doing. R. Sullivan said sometimes there is a fear from people that if the Board focuses on one project they will neglect other ones, but that fear is unmerited. Stutsman said that all of the Board's initiatives would have huge budget impacts. M. Sullivan said the majority of projects the Board is involved in impact the budget.
Reverend Bob Welsh stated that he is a firm believer that Iowa City has a Manager/Council form of government, and not a Council/Manager form of government. He said that dealing with County Engineers is like dealing with lawyers. Welsh explained that lawyers often try to put themselves in a position of setting a policy, instead of performing the task of finding out how to legally implement a policy. In terms of County roads, Welsh said that it is the Board's responsibility to do what they think is best, and it is the Engineer's responsibility to design roads that meet the goals. Welsh said that the Board has been overly loyal to its employees and not critical enough at times. He said that best practices need to be taken into account when the Board sets up goals. He is amazed by the demographic changes in the county. He noted that when the Market Analysis for Successful Aging was done the projected population for year 2010 was 65,000 +9,500, but said that the county already reached that growth in 2006. Welsh said the County should work around the concept of livable community. Welsh said the County needs help from the rural communities in order to move forward with the Rural Economic Development Plan.
Welsh said that Johnson County has been awarded an Aging Resource Center grant worth $75,000 partly because of the involvement with the Successful Aging Initiative. Welsh noted that there is a new grant for geographic areas that have 15% of the population over the age of 55. He said that Hills, Oxford and Swisher meet that criteria. He noted that he is trying to determine what parts of Iowa City and Coralville meet that criteria. M. Sullivan asked if they could be really specific with the geographical area and go to the neighborhood level. Welsh agreed and said the grant was from a Jewish foundation and was worth up to $100,000 over a three-year period and can be used for a big section of a city that meets the criteria.
Adjourned at 10:20 a.m.
______________________________________________________________________
Attest: Tom Slockett, Auditor
By:
On the _______ day of _____________________, 2008
By John Deeth, Recording Secretary
Sent to the Board of Supervisors on May 5, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.